‘I am super happy to have been part of the Learning to be a Peacemaker course – we learned the true colours of Islam!’ wrote 18-year-old high-school graduate Nma Dahir, from Erbil, capital of the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. ‘After attending it, I am totally immersed in this field, and want to learn more so that I can implement it in my life, and teach others about it!’ 

The course she was referring to was part of the Caux Forum Online 2021 programme. Designed and delivered by British Imam and broadcaster, Ajmal Masroor, it mines references in the holy scriptures of Islam to a wide variety of aspects of peacemaking, in a fast-moving, interactive way.

The content made me realize how easy it is for us to live our lives in peace.

For Nadeem Jahangir, a software engineer in Lahore, Pakistan, the course was the best he had taken part in. ‘The trainer was a great guide, teaching that, according to the Islamic perspective, the invitation to peace is very clear. The content made me realize how easy it is for us to live our lives in peace.'

When asked what she had learned from the course, Nigar Sultana, a recent graduate in English Literature, originally from Bangladesh, answered succinctly: ‘First, our beliefs don't make us a better person, but our behaviour does. Second, peace cannot be kept by any force, it can only be achieved through mutual understanding. And third, before any argument about religion, we should have a proper knowledge about the religion.'

Our beliefs don't make us a better person, but our behaviour does.

Tareq Layka, a dentist and peace activist in Syria, picked out several elements in the course. Firstly, the three-way relationship that is at the heart of Islamic teaching: with God, with ourselves, and with others.

Secondly, the ‘great, tolerant attitude that the course promotes and that we desperately need to tolerate our differences and accept others’. This was especially close to his heart, as someone who had lived through a conflict ‘that many people attribute to religious intolerance’.

Thirdly, ‘the importance of building peace within ourselves to be able to spread it to others’. And fourthly, ‘how to be moderate, in religion and in life’. ‘Ultimately’, he said, ‘the course provided me with a completely new, comprehensive understanding of life, justice, peace, and much more!’

The course provided me with a completely new, comprehensive understanding of life, justice, peace, and much more!

A Somali participant, who wished to remain anonymous, also made a discovery: that peacemaking and conflict resolution are foundational pillars of Islamic teachings and practice. He had thought that they were only promoted by Western countries.

For Nishat Aunjum, a student in Peace and Conflict Studies at Dhaka University, Bangladesh, the course spotlighted deep-rooted causes of misconceptions about Islam and also introduced her ‘to the pathway to help bring my community from the darkness of fallacy, and build a more knowledgeable society’. 

The course definitely widened my horizon (...) and helped bring to light that changemaking needs to happen within us before anyone else.

Murad Elmaryami, a Libyan medical student living in Malaysia, courageously shared that he had learnt new things about himself through the ‘Inner Peace’ module: that there were conflicts within himself that needed to be addressed before he could address anyone else’s concern or problem. He said: 'The course definitely widened my horizon on these issues  and helped bring to light that changemaking needs to happen within us before anyone else.' His conclusion was that ‘to reach that phase of Inner Peace, I need to educate myself more about anger problems, forgiveness and emotional intelligence’.

Bringing a non-Muslim perspective, Taylor Garrett, a US citizen and recent Masters’ graduate in International Relations and Diplomacy from Leiden University, Netherlands, appreciated Imam Ajmal’s gift of ‘inspiring participants to rethink the core values of Islam and how they’re relevant for all our lives, Muslim or non-Muslim’.

We really are all in this together!

All the participants enjoyed the diversity of the group and the ‘real, authentic engagement with peacebuilders around the world seeking to expand inner and outer peace in their own local communities’, as she put it.

 ‘We really are all in this together’, she concluded.

• More on Learning to be a Peacemaker
• Discover all Caux Forum Online 2021 events
• Find out how it all started: Learning to be a Peacemaker - An Eye-Opener to the World
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Compiled by Peter Riddell, Coordinator, Learning to be a Peacemaker

This wonderful virtual meeting honoured the links between the Caux Forum and Switzerland on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Initiatives of Change Switzerland (IofC) and 15 years of partnership with the Federal Department of Swiss Foreign Affairs (FDFA).

This meeting has a history. The relationship between IofC Switzerland and the FDFA is long-standing, but has been strengthened in recent years through the support provided to the Caux Forum by the Peace and Human Rights Division of the FDFA. The series of conferences held each summer by the Caux Forum on the themes of just governance and human security, or the dialogue on environment and security, illustrate this partnership, as do the events regularly organized by the FDFA in the former Caux Palace, which offers a setting conducive to peacebuilding activities.

This anniversary year also provided an opportunity to highlight the extent to which IofC Switzerland’s peacebuilding activities are integrated within those of the many institutions of international Geneva that gravitate around the United Nations, whose European headquarters are in the city.

The meeting echoed the official commemoration of IofC Switzerland’s 75th anniversary, which took place on 5 July 2021 (see the high-level panel gathered on that date). Both testify to the shared values of peacebuilding and human security, and to Switzerland’s attachment to what the conference centre in Caux represents at the international level. A 2018 interview has already captured this relationship.

But the special bond that has deeply united the two institutions over the years remains above all a shared attachment to the African continent, a relationship to which this meeting paid tribute.

The day’s programme revolved around two focal points. Firstly, a panel of three African speakers (see below), moderated by Rainer Gude, who co-directed IofC for seven years until earlier this year. This was followed by a series of four facilitated workshops.

These workshops aimed to show how the IofC Switzerland conference centre in Caux has been a meeting place for two perspectives: a Swiss way and voice (rethinking security in the face of violence, through a desire for peace and conflict prevention) and the ways and voices of those from the African continent who want to share and to commit themselves to sustainable peace.

The programme also saved space to share some of the stories that have taken place in Caux, told by those who climbed the mountain after having travelled the thousands of kilometres which separate it from Africa. The influence of this place is due in part to the serenity that emanates from its unique, meditative geography, and to the image of a Switzerland committed to the defence of human values. But above all it is due to the human encounters that have taken place here each year for nearly eight decades, and which contribute to forging peacemakers.

Finally, the story which wove itself between Caux, Switzerland and Africa, also helped to strengthen the francophone links of the global movement that is Initiatives of Change. The anniversary meeting emphasized this aspect by being held in French. It took place online, but  with the organizing team based in Caux. So Caux was at least present at its anniversary!

Some highlights

The meeting opened with a panel entitled: ‘Rethinking Security and Preventing Violence: a path between Caux, Switzerland and Africa’.

The panel was introduced by Christine Beerli, President of IofC Switzerland, who insisted on the importance of mutual listening, and moderated by Rainer Gude, Executive Coordinator of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. Its members were:

• Abdoulaye Mohamadou, Executive Secretary, Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), Burkina Faso
• Daphrose Barampama, Creators of Peace in Burundi, Burundi/Switzerland
• Christian Pout, President, African Centre for International, Diplomatic, Economic and Strategic Studies (CEIDES), Cameroon

The first question for the panelists was ‘What are the main changes that you perceive to be occurring in terms of conflict and violence, and what measures should be taken?’ They spoke of the trivialization of violence and the hate speech that permeate our societies, even if positive progress can be seen, for example in Burundi.

When asked ‘What has Caux brought to you?’, their eyes began to shine: exceptional encounters, a propitious place for meditation, the importance of silence in building peace, and a place of personal commitment, of rejuvenation and of listening. One panelist summed up the reality of Caux in four words: history, memory, duty and hope.

The questions that followed concerned the role that the conference centre in Caux and Switzerland could play in promoting peace in the future. According to the panellists, support for peace actors, whether governmental, civilian or private, national or local, is essential to their dynamism; the same is true for young people, who need to be valued and supported in participating in the life of their country.

Caux and Switzerland must continue, and even increase, their commitment to political and personal dialogue, sharing, listening and following up actions undertaken. One mustn’t give up. The world has confidence in Switzerland, a country with no colonial past, which bears the values of humanism, and which can, as a state, support the development of other countries, as much in terms of infrastructure as in the mediation and prevention of violence.

The participants were then divided into four facilitated workshops, held in parallel:

■ ‘Experiencing the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme’, was facilitated by Désiré Tuyishemeze from Burundi. He summarized his group’s discussion by emphasizing two points: the importance of meeting francophone people at Caux, and releasing one’s tensions, and even hatred, when in a leadership position.

It's all very well wanting to change the world – but change must start with oneself.

 

■ ‘Sharing moments of nostalgia and inspiration for the future: what Caux gave me’ was facilitated by Angelo Barampama from Burundi. He reported on the gratitude of the participants who all left their stay at Caux feeling ‘soothed’.

Our children were with us in Caux, and the magic also worked on them. If we include children in a framework which teaches them to listen to others, that prepares them to become peacemakers too.

 

■ ‘Reflection on Switzerland and Africa; what role can Caux play tomorrow?’  was led by Stéphanie Buri from IofC Switzerland. She described how on several occasion the conference centre in Caux played a key role in bringing together citizens of the same country who found it impossible to speak to each other when at home (and how it would be necessary to bring those same people back to Caux to build on their dialogue), and how the removal of titles and status of Forum participants facilitates encounters and  self-awareness.

There should be more encounters between people in conflict, more direct mediation. Further engagement of the Swiss authorities in financing the IofC Switzerland Foundation; federal, cantonal and local authorities. We have here a wonderful example of decentralization.

 

■ ‘Experiencing Peace Circles’ was facilitated by Marienne Tene Makoudem from Cameroon. She reported the very concrete results of the Peace Circles, rejoiced in their impact on family and intergenerational dialogue, and underlined the importance of exchanging in a common language (French, in this case).

Caux revealed the creator of peace who was sleeping inside me.

 

The meeting ended with a conclusion from Frédéric Chavanne from France, who recalled the importance of IofC Switzerland and of the FDFA in the political dialogue in Burundi, demonstrated the need to listen and to avoid offering solutions from the outside and, finally, encouraged Caux and Switzerland to collaborate with other countries of the Global North.

The importance of reconnecting head and heart – going up to Caux helps us in this, and we must persevere

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You missed the event? Watch the replay in French here.

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Photos: Adrien Giovannelli, IofC Switzerland

In the context of their partnership, Initiatives of Change Switzerland (IofC) and the Peace and Human Rights division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs organised a webinar on the theme Catalysing political and community-based solutions for land governance in West and Central Africa: a pathway to peace and prosperity. Held on the 21 July 2021 as part of the Caux Forum Online 2021, the webinar followed those held previously on 10 July 2020 on ‘Land and Security in Sub-Saharan Africa’ (summary, video), and on 2 December 2020 on ‘Land Governance in the Sahel’ (summary, video).

Chaired by Luc Gnacadja (Benin), Founder and President of the thinktank GPS-Dev (Governance & Policies for Sustainable Development); former Executive Secretary of UNCCD (2007-2013), and former Minister of Environment and Urban Development for Benin (2004-2007), the webinar brought together several people active at the heart of the concerns of safeguarding land and peace in the Sahel:

• Boubacar Ba, Director of the Centre d'Analyse sur la Gouvernance et la Sécurité au Sahel/NGO Éveil, Mali
• Ousseyni Kalilou, Co-chair of the Forest Interest Group (FIG), Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPAX), Niger/USA
• Salima Mahamoudou, Research Associate, Global Restoration Initiative, World Resources Institute, Washington DC, US/Niger
• Abdoulaye Mohamadou, Executive Secretary, Permanent Interstates Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), Burkina Faso

The workshop emphasized the close relationship of the various challenges facing West and Central Africa: food insecurity, poverty, environmental degradation, climate change, weak governance, violent extremism, armed conflict, and the still poorly understood consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a region where the vast majority of the population depends on rain-fed agriculture and pastoralism, one question stands out: does land governance increase the insecurity of the population, or can its successes and failures give rise to deep reflections on the policy changes needed at a time when violent extremism is primarily targeting areas rich in natural resources? How can we work to prevent violence?

In his launch of the webinar, Luc Gnacadja reminded everyone that, through the Bamako Declaration of February 2019, African nations and civil society both supported the need to respond strongly to land degradation and the effects of climate change in the Sahel. The sustainable management of smallholder and pastoralist agroecological systems constitutes the very basis of an effective strategy to prevent and ‘reduce conflicts linked to resource use’, as stated in the Declaration. As many soil restoration practices exist in the region, regional cooperation becomes essential to stimulating reflection and action in this field, and to raising new hopes.

For Boubakar Ba, the complexity of land governance is such that only through a precise understanding of local and regional conditions can it be tackled effectively. He drew on the example of the Inner Niger Delta, in the Mopti region of Mali, to illustrate how imbalances in the coexistence of pastoral and agricultural systems, and land conflicts which go back far into the past, can today either be a source of solutions or fuel violence, depending on how they are handled. In this situation of land grabbing and armed conflict, Boubakar Ba advocates from his personal experience that dialoguing with the ‘new masters’ is a necessary step towards establishing a consensus on conflict resolution and the endogenous governance of natural resources, and allowing people to return to and use the land.

Ousseiny Kalilou demonstrated the importance of the production of gum arabic in the Sahel, which, under conditions of environmental stress, can be a factor both in climate mitigation (the acacia fixes nitrogen in the soil) and in local community management of the root causes of violent conflict. As gum arabic is a source of economic subsistence and a natural resource coveted by multinational organizations, cooperation within communities and with external actors to regulate the sector offers an opportunity to create social cohesion around this acacia tree. Human relationships are therefore at the centre of this activity, even in areas of tension.

Salima Mahamoudou addressed land restoration from an economic perspective: all land has a market value, and its restoration can generate immediate benefits as well as unhealthy competition, or other negative effects. Land-owners who covet the terrain restored by their tenants often reclaim the land and force the tenants out without adequate compensation. It is important that customary agreements are respected, as it is the most vulnerable groups (women and youth) who are the most affected by such practices. Dialogue platforms at local and national levels are vital for the creation of coherent land restoration programmes.

Finally, Abdoulaye Mohamadou painted a broad picture of the various difficulties which countries face in trying to protect, control and fully benefit from the immense wealth of the Sahel’s natural resources. Border zones pose the most concern for governments, which  must deal with varying judicial systems. This situation imperatively requires regional coordination and a policy of dialogue at all levels of decision-making, particularly involving the community actors on the ground. Only a large-scale citizen mobilization, using the most advanced technologies and based on concrete and successful experiments, will be able to meet the needs. ‘We must urgently create an African IPCC*,’ he concluded. (*Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.)

In the discussion that followed, panellists and participants emphasized the need to tackle these issues specifically and concretely, and to actively involve local communities in finding solutions. Moreover, it is not so much the environmental conditions themselves which are crucial to peace and security, but their governance. Thus, as power relations exist everywhere (in areas of tension as much as anywhere else), it is important to make them more flexible and to introduce dialogue whenever possible: where the state is present, where it is not, where the private sector is active (especially through micro, small and medium businesses), where traditional structures work to the benefit of the community, where there is threat of conflict and where conflicts have already broken out.

It is through this awareness of the link between land governance and the stakes of peace or of war, and a will to include all the actors concerned, that progress can be made.

Everyone emphasized that those that society has left behind (particularly women and youth) must be integrated, as it is they who are rooted in the land and will provide life for it, no matter what happens.

And from there, the necessary scaling-up of good practices can be carried by the nations with the support of all.

Co-organizers

Dr Alan Channer, specialist in peacebuilding, environment and communication (UK/France), has been one of the organizers of the Caux Dialogues on Land and Security since their inception, and also initiated the Summer Academy on Land, Security and Climate in 2019, in partnership with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).

Carol Mottet, Senior Advisor in the Peace and Human Rights Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), is in charge of a programme on the prevention of violent extremism. As land issues are among the root causes of violence, this programme helps link environment, security and peace specialists in the search for a common solution.

Download the full report

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You missed the event? Watch the replay in French here.

• More on the Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security 2021
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Cover photo: Noah Elhardt through WikiCommons

The second in-person, by invitation, event of this year's Caux Forum Online took place on 1 August 2021 in the Main Hall of the Caux Conference and Seminar Centre. The concert Musical Stories with the Caux Vintage Chorus was part of the Day of Gratitude, marking the 75th anniversary of the conference centre in Caux and the closing of the Caux Forum Online 2021.

More than 80 people - family and friends of the musicians - from the region and further afield attended. The concert, performed by the Caux Vintage Chorus, was also livestreamed with people watching from all over the world and was so successful that the musicians kept giving encores as the audience, both online and in Caux, didn't want to let them go.

The event was the initiative of Swiss musician Claire Martin-Fiaux, who has often directed choirs and wanted to resurrect some of the great music from the early years of the conference centre in Caux. The presentation started with a photo of her and her brother, Jean Fiaux, as children, in the same hall on 1 August 1946, with Frank Buchman, the founder of Initiatives of Change (then Moral Re-Armament).

The Caux Vintage Chorus, an ad hoc choir of 14 singers sang 11 ‘classics’ from the 1930s to the 1960s, in Italian, French, German and English. Due to the worldwide pandemic, musicians from around the world who had planned to join the adventure were not able to come to Switzerland to sing. So those singers living in and around Caux recruited friends, family and neighbours (who some of them had never sung in a choir before) and started rehearsing.

Andrew and Eliane Stallybrass from Caux, who have both been working with Initiatives of Change for many years, introduced the songs, giving some of the history and context, and archive photos were projected. The words were given in a printed programme for those in the hall, and as subtitles for all those following on-line.

There were three songs written by Paul Misraki, a French composer of Jewish ancestry of popular songs and film music, and striking photos of him at the piano with the Caux chorus. Another showed him conducting the Suisse Romande Orchestra in the Victoria Hall in Geneva, recording the sound track for the musical show, The Good Road, which toured Germany in 1948 (see our story here).

In the audience there were two Swiss who as teenagers had helped to prepare the abandoned Caux Palace for the very first conferences in 1946 after it had been bought by Swiss families and individuals to offer the world "a home".

The song When I point my finger at my neighbours by Cecil Broadhurst for the musical Jotham Valley is probably one of the most widely-performed Moral Re-Armament songs. Its message is that every time we accuse or blame another person, we should remember that we might be part of the problem. When we point a finger at someone, three of our fingers are pointing back at us.

The song was performed at the concert on 1 August and had such a big success that it inspired merriment among some neighbours from the village of Caux, who spent the next day pointing at each other.

What the audience said

‘All night long my mind was picturing that delegation of 130 Germans in 1947 being greeted in Caux with very daring lyrics: who wrote that, I had never previously understood the words.’

Participant from France

 

‘What a great event that was. Wonderful to see everyone in the hall again. And moving to hear those songs – the lyrics of 'Es muss alles anders werden' are incredible, given the time they were singing it!’

Participant from the United Kingdom

 

‘Thanks for a really great show yesterday, it was both informative and thoroughly enjoyable. I have to admit, I was not sure what to expect as I am not so knowledgeable of the music from that time. But I was super impressed. So thanks again to everyone involved.’

Participant from the village of Caux

 

‘Indeed it was a GREAT connection experience through music and history! We both enjoyed it A LOT! We even sang with you! Do please share our gratitude with the team that put the event out! Having the lyrics on the screen was really nice! All the details were thought to care for the experience of those connected online! Seeing people, real people, in the main hall was also a sign of hope!’

Participant from Uruguay

 

‘What a magnificent presentation of stories and music.’

Participant from South Africa

 

‘I want to thank you very much for the brilliant concert you gave at Caux. The singing was so beautiful and the whole performance so professional, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The solo voices were also very good. Thank you for the hours, days and weeks of practising this must have involved.  It was so lovely to feel part of Caux for an hour or so, even if we were far away in our houses. I was specially moved by the song 'Es muss alles anders werden'. The melody and harmony was beautiful and the words so heart-warming, thinking of the Germans shortly after the war.’

Participant from the United Kingdom

 

‘I don’t know if I’d ever heard that song for Germany before, or not with translation that I recall. It was so powerful and moving to imagine the moment it was sung to that group – wow!’

Participant from Boston, USA

 

‘Great! Also loved it and was shouting at my laptop for an encore of that polar star one and you heard me!!! Getting the history mixed in was also essential for me... really very well done!!!’

Participant from Moldova

 

‘The selection of songs, the presentation of the songs, the pictures shared, the subtitles, the singing... all the care for details! I think it was a real success and I am so happy you did it!

Participant from Romania

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You have missed the event? Watch the replay here!

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Listen to an original recording of 'Es muss alles anders werden' from 1947/48 and discover the lyrics. This song was originally written to welcome the first Germans who arrived in Caux after the Second World War in 1947. You can find this song on the video (24"15).

Land of the rolling green hills, Land of the wide blue seas.

Land of the high forest, mountain, Peaks covered with white snow.

Land of discord, land of unity, between East and West the bond.

Destined to give your heart, Germany, land beloved of God.

Once more your Master calls you, Father of heaven and earth.

Empty hands, empty hearts, everything must change.

Yesterday sad and beaten, today from grievances grow.

New hearts, new people. Everything can become different.

Land of beautiful old cities in the heart of Europe,

Your high-built cathedrals all point skywards.

Land of the great old masters, Bach's music and Dürer's hand,

Great thinkers, great minds, Germany, land beloved of God.

Once more your Master calls you, Father of heaven and earth.

Empty hands, empty hearts, everything must change.

Yesterday sad and beaten, today from grievances grow.

New hearts, new people. Everything can become different.

(Lyrics: Jörg Widmer)

• Photos by Mark Henley
• Video produced by Visualive Productions
• Es muss alles anders werden: Initiatives of Change

Words and music can be powerful tools to promote peace and transformation. On 2 July 2021 they were also at the centre of the second event on in the arts programme celebrating 75 Years of Encounters at Caux. The event took part in two parts, featuring British musician William Leigh Knight and the writer and poet Yara Zgheib from Lebanon/ USA.

Songs of Trance and Transformation: inheritance tracks from Caux

This was a personal selection of songs associated with Caux, performed by William Leigh Knight from the UK with accompanist, John Collis, and supported by Cath Hutchinson. William’s concept of ‘inheritance tracks’ was inspired by a feature in a British radio programme where guests are asked to share two songs – one which inspired them and one which they would like to pass on.

William started with a song he remembered from his first visit to Caux, The Cowboy Carol, and included several recent compostitions as well. He ended with Somewhere in the heart of a man from a 1950s musical, Jotham Valley, which he was asked to sing on that first visit. The story of Jotham Valley centres on a fight over access to water, an issue which is even more urgent today. William dedicated his performance to Kathleen Johnson Dodds, composer and song writer, who died earlier this year.

The Power of Poetry: changing the world by writing about truth and beauty

The second part of the event focused on the life and writing of Yara Zgheib from Lebanon and the USA. It began with a reading of her essay, On the Water, beautifully performed by Anna Macleod.

Yara was interviewed by journalist Mary Lean. As well as discussing her writing they talked about how Yara first came to Caux and the inspiration she found there. Yara initiated with Mary the 75 Years of Stories project on the IofC Switzerland website – a short story about a person or a group for each year of Caux since 1946.

As well as writing short essays on her blog, The Non-Utilitarian, Yara is a novelist. Her second novel, No land to light on, will be published next year. The story is built around the problems experienced by people caught in changes in international travel restrictions. Yara read an extract from the novel, a powerful description of the heartbreak caused by these rules. Her website is yarazgheib.com

The recording of this event is available for those who missed it. A fun element was the way it linked us across the globe: technical support from Kenya and Eygpt, performers in Boston, USA, and the UK and a presenter in Poland. It can be quite challenging to make all this work but we are learning how to do it better each time.

All 75th Anniversary Arts Events

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You missed the event? Watch the replay here.

Video: Mike Muikia